Steve
Others are noting this sulfur dioxide cloud:
***********************************************************
From: Simon Carn <sc...@umbc.edu>
***********************************************************
The August 7-8 eruption of Kasatochi volcano (Aleutian Islands)
produced a very large stratospheric SO2 cloud - possibly the largest
since the August 1991 eruption of Hudson (Chile). Preliminary SO2 mass
calculations using Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) data suggest a
total SO2 burden of ~1.5 Tg. This figure will be revised in the coming
weeks but is more likely to go up than down. The SO2 cloud has drifted
over a large area of North America and is now (August 14) reaching
Europe.
This is also a request to anyone with ground-based instrumentation
(DOAS, FTIR, lidar etc.) who may be able to make observations of this
cloud. The location of the SO2 can be tracked using these near-real
time SO2 websites:
http://satepsanone.nesdis.noaa.gov/pub/OMI/OMISO2/index.html
http://www.oma.be/BIRA-IASB/Molecules/SO2nrt/vs/orbit.php
If anyone needs any more localized maps of the SO2 plume, please let me know.
Best regards,
Simon
-------------- Original message --------------
From: Steve Davidson <azlea
...@yahoo.com>
----- Original Message -----
From: donald2b...@comcast.net
To: Pinpoint-Newsleter@googlegroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, August 13, 2008 3:19 PM
Subject: Pinpoint-News-- Preview of EARTH & SUN DIGEST for 8/14
Note the continuing addition of sulfur dioxide to the air from several volcanos, including Kilauea. Here is a reference:
http://www.weather.com/outlook/health/airquality/articles/rt-15
It is interesting to note that this article completely overlooks volcanoes as contributors to atmospheric sulfur dioxide.
The article only mentions man's contribution. They say 65%, 13 million tons, comes from electric utilities. Assuming they are ignoring nature's contribution then that would be about 22 million tons total for human release of SO2 each year.
According to the article below volcanoes, like Kasatochi, contribute an estimated 10 million metric tons of SO2 a year to atmospheric pollution. Accounting for the fact that a metric ton is larger than an English ton that means man contributes about 2/3 of all the SO2 released (on average) into the atmosphere each year. My guess is that man's contribution will continue to increase.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/182/4112/577
